Sushi and lice

Hello everyone!! 

We had an...Interesting week here in Setubal!! 

The week started off good and we were really working hard to help this area. We made some good goals and were excited to work hard and achieve them. We also had zone conference on Thursday, which was so good. It recharged us and helped us really focus on the things important here in the mission! I left there with a desire to work harder and be more obedient than ever before because there are miracles waiting to take place here, we just have to do our part. 

During conference President also talked a lot about trials of faith. I know trials of faith are necessary, but they are not any fun to pass through. Our mission right now is passing through a lot of trials and a lot of opposition, but we cant let that stop us. It is only AFTER the trial of our faith that we receive a testimony and the blessings that Heavenly Father has waiting for us. I Have been thinking a lot about all the trials of faith I have passed through in my life, and I have been able to identify the blessings that came after I stuck it out and endured the trials. It is hard to remember in the moment, but looking back I am so grateful for all the trials I have had to pass through. I know I would never of learned, grown, or changed without these trials, and most importantly my testimony would not be as strong as it is right now. It is hard to pass through them and many times we question if Heavenly Father is there of if He really cares, but I know He is always there. And in the end, it is only through Him that we can overcome these challenges. 

Speaking of challenges.. I had a little problem this week. I got lice. Yea, that thing that KIDS get. I am blaming it on all the beijinhos we give here, but man it was terrible. After lots of prayers, a few tears, and lots of shampoo, I think I am clean now. But basically want to wear my hair up for the rest of my mission because I do not want to risk that again. If I have a child with lice I will literally just shave their hair. It’s the WORST!!! But yea, I am continuing to use the comb they gave me to look for eggs after every shower. I am so scared they will come back, it would be the worst. I also lost so much hair because the shampoo is so strong and chemically it like fried my hair a little. I am going to return home bald but hey, at least I will be lice free?? 

Also this whole week sister Baker and I have been craving sushi. We found an all you can eat sushi place and decided to eat there for Pday today. The problem? You have to fill out a piece of paper asking for the kinds of sushi you want and they will bring them out for you. We got there really hungry so we filled out that paper with a lot of sushi. I am one of those people whose eyes are bigger than their stomach. SO in the end we ended up with a lot more sushi than we could eat. We made goals and tried to eat it all, and in the end we admitted defeat with 10 sushi rolls uneaten. I don’t want any more sushi for a few more months now. 

But yea, that was our exciting week here in Setubal!! 

Have a great week and stay strong through all of your trials of faith! 

Sister Jones 

Sushi!

 Our Japanese friend gave us this can of lychees?? We didn’t ask questions, just accepted it haha

Sisters during our Zone Conference 

Sisters in our District

Sisters take 2

Forty Day Fast

Olá todos!! 

We had a good week here in Setubal! The weather was pretty bearable so we have been blessed, and basically only one more month until Summer ends here so I am counting my blessings (I never thought I would say that, what am I becoming out here in the mission??) 

We had some miracles in our area this week! Our mission as a whole is doing a 40 day fast. So basically for 40 days, at least one dupla of missionaries is fasting, we all switch off with days. It is to help our mission become more spiritual and reach our full potential. This week we have really felt the power of this fast!! Doors are opening, people are stopping on the streets, and hearts are being touched. Its so cool to watch the Lord bless us as we try our hardest. 

A few weeks ago I contacted this lady named Rita in the road. She has a baby that is literally the cutest thing ever, and she is only like 28 years old. We finally got to teach her this week and she had a ton of questions about what we believe. She asked us how we felt about families. I explained that families are the unit most important in our lives, and how we lived with our family before this life, here in this life, and also after this life also. Her eyes got huge and she became so excited. She explained that she has had this belief that we will live with our families after this life but never found a church that agrees with this belief. The spirit was SO strong! The bad part? We found out she is moving to the other side of Setubal which is the other ward (there are two wards in this city) but we are going to teach her as much as we can before she moves and she will be baptized soon after!! 

We also had an activity combined with the other ward on Saturday! It was a huge BBQ with games and dancing and everything. There were 3 youth there who aren’t members but have friends who are members from ward 2, but live in our ward boundaries, so we got to know them and they are going to get baptized soon they are basically already members its a miracle!! 

They also got me to do a food-eating contest (I fought hard to get out of it), and to absolutely no surprise, I lost SO bad. I don’t have the same talent other people have to eat fast and eat a lot but hey, I tried. Also got sick after it ended haha

But yea!! That was our week! It was good and I am learning a ton out here! It’s a good life here in the mission!! 

Com Amor,~

Sister Jones 

Got a new washing machine this week #itsthelittlethings

Week 1 in Setubal=down

Hello everyone!!! 

SO yea I had my first week in Setubal!!! The members in faro are incredible and made me my favorite pão de batata on Monday night and mint ice cream to say bye :( I am gonna miss them, but I know I will see them before my mission ends (I have a lot of hope) 

But yea then on Tuesday we started the journey to Lisbon, and then to Setubal. Because we are doing a whitewash, when my new comp, Sister Baker and I met up, we weren't exactly sure where to go and how to make it to our area. But the other elders in the area said we could just follow them. So we are following them with our HUGE bags, and we had to catch a train, as we were entering the place to load the train, the ticket of my comp had a problem, so basically we left our bags with the elders and ran downstairs to buy a new ticket. While we were buying the ticket, the train arrived, and will only stay there for like 3 minutes at the most, so we literally were sprinting through the station, make it back up the stairs to see the elders sprinting to catch this train with all of their bags and our bags. It was like a movie, as we had to sprint for a good like 100 meters to make this train. We literally entered the second the train doors closed. Miracles happen kids. And our adrenaline was pumping for sure. 

But yea we made it to our area. And I remembered that whitewashes are HARD. But we met with a few members, a few investigators that the sisters left, and have walked A LOT to get to know the area. The progress is coming along slowly and surely, but we could use all the prayers we could get for this area. 

Setubal is BIG and we live far from like everything. We have to walk almost 40 minutes just to reach the chapel and the area that we can work in, so majority of our day is just walking. But it’s so hard to try to get to know the area when it is so big like this, so it has been an adventure this week for sure. Luckily I feel like we are already getting to know the area a little better by now. They have some people that look really cool that they were teaching, but we have only been able to get in contact or pass by 2 of them this week, so it looks like we will have to start looking for our own investigators and people to teach a lot more this week which isn’t the funnest thing, but the people here are a lot more open than in Faro so it should be good. I forgot how easy it is to do contacts and stuff here closer to Lisbon. People are more opened minded here so that’s good. 

My comp is Sister Baker. She is from St George and she is 19 fresh out of high school on a mission basically (she has a late birthday) so it’s funny. She is on her 5th transfer, but she had a really hard beginning of the mission so she is still adjusting a lot. I really like her, she’s so cute and we have fun together. But she really isn’t that happy in the mission, she said she left not really knowing what she was doing, and she is literally already counting down the days until she goes home which gets a little difficult because she still has A LOT, and I want to focus on the work and not home. But it’s been good. I have been trying to not talk about home and things that remind her of home so I hope it will help. But also hard because she really does not understand Portuguese that well.. like its not her fault everyone learns at different times but it gets a little hard when we leave lessons and contacts and she’s like so yea what did they say?? But I just need to be a little more understanding with that hahha. But it’s good. It will be a good transfer!! 

OHH The apartment is way nice!! It’s the best house I have lived in in my mission, just far from like everything. 

I thought I had mastered how to use a map with my time here in Portugal, but I was proven wrong this week. Our very first day here, we started on the journey to the church. We were walking for like a solid 30 minutes when we were kinda ending up in the middle of nowhere. So I decided to ask someone in the road the name of the street. He told us the name and then told us that we walked in the wrong direction for 30 minutes and that had to turn around and walk in the other direction for over an hour. So that was our first fail here in the area. I would be lying to say that we haven't had more of these fails throughout the week. My map skills were pretty rusty, but I think I have been improving this week.

Also when I was younger my dad would always say to me "You would lose your head if it wasn't screwed on" because I would always lose things. That is still true here in the mission. On Saturday I managed to lose our map. You know we are just 2 new people in this city that we don't know, and I manage to lose our only hope of having success. Then later that night I lost my agenda (daily planner) that was full of numbers and addresses of people that we have talked to this week. SO yea it would only be worse if I were blonde at this point. SO today we have walked a ton just to find a map, and still, haven't found one. It's a good thing my comp has a lot of patience with me because it's a tad bit ridiculous. 

The ward looks good. idk. During church i was just homesick for Faro but that always happens the first week in a new area for me so I will adjust and it will all be good. There are some families, which seem cool!! I am excited to work with them and everything, but Sunday was a bit overwhelming. 

But yea church yesterday was good to get to know the members, and I am excited to work with them here in this area!! Also, I am excited to get into shape again because we walk A LOT here. It's going to be a good transfer!!! 

Have a great week! Remember the power that comes through prayer. One of the most comforting facts of life is that we have a Heavenly Father who wants to hear from us and wants to help us, and He will. We just have to ask. 

Com Amor,

Sister Jones 

Sister Baker and Sister Jones

Sister Jones new apartment

Tchau Faro :(

Hello everyone!! Hope you guys are all having an awesome summer and enjoying the beach and pool!! 

We had an awesome week in Faro! We started teaching this family of ELEITOS here that will be baptized here in a few weeks. Its a family of 3 and the mom and daughter are actually already baptized, but moved here to Faro 2 months ago and never went to church with us here. The dad isn’t a member but LOVES learning about the church. They all came to church yesterday and they are literally all so cool. We taught them a few lessons this week and they were so spiritual and SO good. Nelson, the dad, is so ready for baptism and wants to be baptized! He was prepared to meet with us in this time of his life for sure! So cool to see the Lords hand in all of our lives! 

But also this week I received sad news that I would leave the BEST ARE IN THE WORLD :( Seriously, I am SO sad to leave here. We got this news on Saturday actually, and it was so hard to focus on the work. It was getting hard and I could feel myself slacking off a little, so on Sunday I made a goal for us to do 10 effective contacts (to talk to someone in the street, get a phone number or where they live, and have an appointment to teach them in the next week). In our whole transfer together our highest was 7, and that was on a really good day, but I really wanted to reach this goal of 10. (Also I challenged our district leader to a competition to see who could do more and I really wanted to win). So as we were leaving the house I prayed that we would achieve this goal, and then I told my comp that we wouldn’t return until we have 10. She gave me a look telling me I was crazy. But we hit the street. We talked to everyone in the road (which isn’t that hard on Sundays because literally no one is in the road), and tried our hardest. I even contacted a Jehovah´s Witness on accident because I was so pumped. It wasn’t easy but at the end of the day we have 11 effective contacts (I have no idea if that’s right in English but lets just go with it haha). It really showed me that if we set a goal, and work hard the WHOLE day to achieve it, the Lord will bless us. It was so good. Also, we crushed the elders and showed them who is boss here.

But yea, sad news is I am leaving this amazing area. It really will be so sad and I don’t want to leave. This is the best area EVER. When I got here it was a whitewash (two missionaries together who are new to the area) and we had NO one to teach. Literally no one. But we saw miracles! In this area I saw 2 people move their lives and be baptized and become SO happy. I taught so many lessons, and I learned so much. I can honestly say that I really blossomed as a missionary in this area and have grown to love everyone here. The members here are family to me and I am going to miss them SO much. This is not an easy goodbye at all :( 

But changes are part of the mission so now I am going to SETUBAL!!! And I am going to do another whitewash wooo!! With Sister Baker! It will be a good transfer and I am excited! I will learn and grow a lot!! 

Hope you all have a great week!!! Love you all! 

With the lovely Mariana

#companionunity

With Vera and Paulo, one of my favorite members